ClutchPoints
The Philadelphia Eagles may have started a revolution. Their now-infamous Tush Push play has slowly been adopted by other teams after seeing its success over the last few years. No team this season has been more adept at utilizing the Tush Push (outside of the Eagles) than the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Steelers run the Tush push a little differently than the Eagles, letting Aaron Rodgers sit back and relax while another player gets pushed. When asked about it, Rodgers said that he’s open to changing up the position of where he lines up.
“You never know,” Rodgers told Brooke Pryor. “As long as we’re going to keep sneaking it, I’m going to keep standing back there and hopefully signaling first down.”
The Eagles run the Tush Push with Jalen Hurts under center. That makes sense, since the Tush Push is a modified QB sneak after all. It also helps that Hurts is relatively young and has a strong physique. Rodgers is 41 years old and has a laundry list of injuries at this point in his career. Throwing him into the sneak pile is asking for trouble for the Steelers.
Because of that, the Steelers instead have full back Connor Heyward take the snap, with 300-pound TE Darnell Washington behind him to push him forward. Rodgers, meanwhile, just stands behind the play and acts like a field general commanding his troops. It does make for a hilarious visual, but some have advocated for Rodgers to be benched when they call this play.
However, the Steelers are incentivized to keep Rodgers on the field for one big reason. The biggest reason, of course, is the potential fake that can happen. The Eagles have thrown in a fake Tush Push once or twice to great success. The threat of Rodgers getting the ball back and making an easy completion to a receiver downfield is enough to keep him on the field there, even if he does virtually nothing to contribute to the play.
The post Steelers’ Aaron Rodgers keeps option open amid increased Tush Push usage appeared first on ClutchPoints.
